West Bengal to finally get a deep-fishing harbour

Ratna Ganguli, TNNAug 17, 2006, 12.26am IST

KOLKATA: The West Bengal government's lobbying for a deep-sea fishing harbour has finally paid off. The Centre has approved the proposal of a deep-sea fishing harbour at Petuaghat, a coastal village in east Midnapore district, off the Bay of Bengal. The initial cost of the project is estimated at around Rs 60 crore.

The proposal for the deep-sea fishing harbour at Petuaghat has been approved in-principle by the Union agriculture ministry on the basis of a techno-feasibility study report by the Central Institute of Coastal Engineering for Fishery, the state minister of fisheries and aqua-culture Kiranmoy Nanda told ET. At present, there are five such harbours in the country, located in Vizag, Paradeep, Veraval, Mumbai and Kochi.

With the Centre taking up the responsibility of setting up the deep-sea fishing harbour, the state is now thinking of putting up one more minor harbour at Khejuri, a coastal village , he said.